


Good Boy Meets Bad Girl

by ColonelChanSan



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Akiteru Tries To Be A 'Bad Boy', Awkward Conversations, Awkward Flirting, F/M, Saeko Tries To Be A 'Good Girl', Sibling Bonding, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-14
Updated: 2016-03-14
Packaged: 2018-05-26 16:32:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,435
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6247399
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ColonelChanSan/pseuds/ColonelChanSan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Akiteru and Saeko did not have the most romantic of first meetings, back in high school, and once again years later at their little brothers' volleyball match. But as they get a little closer, feelings start to develop. Yet they're just so different from each other, there's no way the other would ever look twice their way, right?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Good Boy Meets Bad Girl

**Author's Note:**

  * For [bouenkyou](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bouenkyou/gifts).



> So, here's my entry for the Rare Pair Exchange!  
> AkiSae for Marge (http://keikaku.tumblr.com/)  
> They wanted slowburn get-together fic, but in a rom-com sort of way where the more awkward and disastrous the better. I'm not sure if I succeeded in that, since my writing is generally not very comedic to begin with, but I hope you still enjoy it either way!

They can’t really say it was love at first sight. No, their meeting was something less romantic than that. It was more like suspicion upon first sight for Saeko, and fear for Akiteru. He had first freaked out when she noticed him and called him out, afraid she would reveal him and so he had ran. But then that freaking out turned to pure, unadulterated fear at over how such a small woman was able to chase him down, grab him, and pull him over to Shimada and the others. Akiteru was definitely much bigger than she was, in both height and build and yet he struggled to get away when she had grabbed him _with one hand_ and dragged him like it was nothing. Akiteru tried convincing himself it was because if he was too forceful he might have hurt her, but despite how small she was, he doubted this woman was the least bit fragile or weak. Besides, if he did struggle with all his might, he has no doubt a woman like this would kick his ass without hesitation. Didn’t stop him from trying to protest though.

She accused him of being a spy, and well, while she was wrong, he doesn’t blame her for thinking that way. Even he had mistook his own disguise for a burglar earlier when he caught his reflection in the mirror before leaving the house. To settle the dispute, he quickly took off his mask and sunglasses and identified himself as Tsukishima Kei’s older brother. Saeko reacted with surprise, but the kind of surprise that was to say “It’s you!” As if she had known him before, a long time ago.

Akiteru wasn’t exactly sure why she reacted that way, as he’s sure he’s never met her in his life. Shimada on the other hand, had a much louder response, one Akiteru had to hiss at him to be quiet about, because if his little brother had heard and found out Akiteru was there when Kei said not to come, well, let’s just say it wouldn’t be pretty, and he would rather not ruin all the work he had done to slowly rebuild their relationship again the past couple of months.

After that though, they conversed as normal. Akiteru helped explain volleyball tactics to her as the game went on but, if he was honest, he can’t say that sparks flew and there wasn’t really any significant chemistry. Then again, it’s not like watching a volleyball match was top breeding grounds for romance. He then found out she also has a little brother on the team, by the name of Tanaka Ryuunosuke. Akiteru couldn’t help but think that name sounded familiar, but Tanaka was such a common name, he could have heard it anywhere. Still, he couldn’t shake the feeling he had known Saeko from before. He discovered she went to Karasuno, just like Akiteru did, but she was a grade below him, and they hung out with different crowds, so it would have been almost impossible to meet her at any time. Maybe he had seen her in the hallways at some point, but fleeting moments like that should surely have been forgotten years down the track.

It was only later, after the game when they got to talking about things other than volleyball did Akiteru remember the one and only time he did meet Saeko in high school.

 

Akiteru had been running late to club activities due to being unable to get out of clean-up duty early, and was made to carry papers all the way to the faculty room, which was on the third floor, and the gym he had to be in was on the ground and on the other side of the building. He had been running frantically, unaware of his surroundings as his only objective was to get there before the coach does so he wouldn’t have to run extra laps, while everyone else was practicing, building their skills, getting further and further away from him, leaving him more room to catch up. He had almost made it when he had suddenly bumped into a girl much smaller than he was and they both fell to ground with a yelp.

“Oi, watch where you’re going!” She shouted, rubbing her head. “You made me drop my melon bread! You owe me!”

Akiteru had immediately reacted, crawling to his hands and knees and bowing in apology.

“I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!” He cried. “Please don’t hurt me!”

“Hurt you…?” The girl had repeated in confusion.

“I’ll get you another one! I promise!”

Akiteru knew he was probably over-reacting, but he couldn’t really help the panic that bubbled up in his stomach. After all, this girl was kind of scary looking. She had to be one of those delinquent types. Her hair was bleached and cut short, styled all spiky at the back, and she had multiple piercings up and down her ears. She wore mascara and lipgloss and her nails were painted black and she wore a tie instead of the regulated bow of the girl’s uniform. Also her skirt was way too short, shorter than regulation and if Akiteru glanced up he could almost see…

He swallowed and stood up immediately.

“I’m so sorry! Please, I have to go but I promise I’ll buy you another melon bread tomorrow. I’m sorry!”

Akiteru bowed once more and dashed off, hoping the coach hadn’t arrived yet while he was probably getting into the bad books of that girl. She’ll probably even tell her Yakuza boyfriend and he’ll be after him to avenge his girlfriend and her fallen melon bread and he’ll surely die. He’ll die and leave Kei, poor sweet Kei, all alone all because he bumped into a girl and made her drop her melon bread. _I’m so sorry, Kei…_

The next day he had paced around the outskirts of the gym carrying a bag full of melon bread - he bought as much as his allowance let him, which was about five - looking for the scary girl he had bumped into the day before. The whole day he was constantly in a panic, looking over his shoulder constantly and out the windows, making sure no one was after him. He was so paranoid that he had even given Kei a long, tight hug and a kiss before he had left this morning. Kei had given him a puzzled look, rubbing his cheek where Akiteru had kissed it, but Akiteru could never explain. How could he tell his little brother that his big brother might not make it home tonight because a delinquent girl and her Yakuza boyfriend had killed him? But he hoped that since he bought her more than the one melon bread he owed, and they haven’t come after him just yet, he might just be spared.

Then, he had caught her coming around the corner, sipping a yoghurt box this time, and Akiteru warily approached her, clutching the plastic bag to his chest. She noticed his presence and turned to face him, looking ready to fight and Akiteru had taken a step or two back in fear. When she recognized him, she raised her eyebrows and eased her posture. Akiteru eased a little too, since it didn’t look like she was gonna hurt him _yet,_ but he was still tense, still clutching at the bag.

“It’s you,” she said. “From yesterday.”

“H-Here!” Akiteru held out the bag in front of him, bowing as low as he could go, squeezing his eyes shut. “I owe you melon bread, right? So here. I bought as much as I could.”

He dared not look up to see her expression and he dared not move when he felt her take the plastic bag. He dared not pay attention to the skip of a beat his heart just did when her fingers brushed his.

“Yo, you only owed me one,” he heard her say, laughter apparent in her voice. “But I guess I could give some of these to Ryuu, these are his favourite. Thanks!”

Ryuu must be her Yakuza boyfriend, Akiteru concluded and was relieved to find out that if melon bread happened to be his favourite, there’s no way he could be mad  at Akiteru for accidentally bumping into his girlfriend when he had just been given five of them in an offering for his life. The delinquent and her Yakuza boyfriend would be both appeased, and Akiteru was relieved. Exhaling as if a heavy weight had been lifted off his shoulders and all the tension in him just flew out and evaporated, Akiteru stood up and smiled.

“I’m glad you’re not gonna hurt me, or get your Yakuza boyfriend to hurt me,” he said with a light chuckle.

“Yakuza… what?” The girl had questioned with one eyebrow raised in confusion.

“I gotta go to club now, see ya!” Akiteru waved and turned on his heel, running to the gym before anything bad happens again where his life could be on the line.

 

Saeko laughed out loud when Akiteru finished recalling the incident and she thumped her chest proudly.

“That was me, silly!” she bellowed. “I knew I recognized you! I definitely remembered a Tsukishima in the volleyball club back then.”

“You… remembered me?” Akiteru blinked in surprise. It was strange because he barely remembered Saeko at all. Or rather, he couldn’t recognize the woman in front of him was actually the girl back then, until now.

“Well, it’s kinda hard to forget a fearful guy who buys you five melon bread, even though he only really owed ya one.”

Akiteru rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

“And no, I didn’t have a Yakuza boyfriend.”

“W-What?”

Saeko laughed again. “I wasn’t gonna hurt ya! And I didn’t have a Yakuza boyfriend to hurt ya for me!”

“I…” Akiteru felt his cheeks go red from embarrassment. “You were pretty scary, so…”

“Nah, that was just you jumping to conclusions and being paranoid.”

Akiteru bowed his head apologetically. “I’m so sorry.”

Saeko pat his back hard, making him jolt and cry out in pain, while she laughed once more.

“Don’t worry about it! Now come on, big boy. We got the award ceremony to watch.”

 _Big boy?_ That sure caught him by surprise, and he wasn’t really sure how to react. But, it’s not like he _disliked_ it.

“Ah, right,” he simply responded and he thought his cheeks had gone pink so he slightly turned his head to hide it. But the way Saeko smirked at him as she strode past him told Akiteru that maybe she had seen it.

Akiteru followed Saeko back to the stands, gathering with Shimada and Takinoue as the award ceremony started, cheering for their little brothers and Karasuno when they received their medals.

It wasn’t much, but Akiteru swore he felt a spark then that wasn’t there before, as if something changed in the last two hours. A spark that would then ignite a small ember that would start slowly burning when they exchanged numbers and e-mails later to organize a Cheer Squad (as coined by Saeko herself) for Karasuno at Tokyo, and would soon grow as they cheered and celebrated side-by-side, and then comfort each other when Karasuno lost the nationals tournament.

They had waved their goodbyes after coming back from Tokyo, and haven’t quite seen or heard from each other since. But it wasn’t really until weeks later, on a day in late April that Akiteru had found that the small, strong and scary woman, with the loud laugh and large, mischievous eyes, and the short, bleach-blonde hair had been on his mind more often than not.

It took him a while to realize, but it dawned on him once he noticed that he had been staring at motorbikes parked near the street, and looking at leather jackets in stores, and found his eyes drifting to a copy of ‘Soul Japan’ in the stack of magazines at the convenient store with tough-looking men bearing tattoos and buzzcuts staring back at him, and that he had thought about buying every single one of those things, not because he was personally interested in them himself, no. It was so he could impress Tanaka Saeko.

He was in his car driving to work in the morning when he had come to this realization, and he pressed his back against the seat and threw his head back.

_Damn._

Out of all the girls to crush on, he had to crush on the one who would probably never date him in a million years. Because Akiteru just wasn’t the type of guy girls like Saeko dated. She probably dated the bad boy types who rode motorbikes and wore leather and had tattoos all up and down their arms. Who had buzz-cuts and mohawks and coloured hair and lots of piercings in all sorts of places. Guys who were tough and cool and didn’t care about authority or rules.

Akiteru was an honest man, with an honest life and an honest job, had a car and he was living on his own, never once skipping his rent. He was raised well by his mom, a model housewife, in a large, well-furnished and immaculate house, in a nice neighbourhood mostly occupied by sweet old grannies. Akiteru barely broke the rules, he tried his best to get along with everyone and was polite to all his elders. He never got into fights, he never did anything too out-of-ordinary or that could get him into trouble. He didn’t even smoke. The worst he could think of was occasionally getting drunk, but everyone did that.

Akiteru was a good boy.

In other words, plain and boring.

No way would a woman like Saeko, who was probably the most interesting woman he’s ever met, with a personality that was larger-than-life and who probably constantly lived on the edge, would want plain and boring. Kei’s coach was probably more to her tastes than he could ever be.

So, in all honesty, he should just forget about her, because he had no chance. Yet, he couldn’t stop thinking about her, no matter how much he tried.

She was on his mind all day at work too, and he could barely concentrate on what he was supposed to do. His supervisor and superiors had told him off far too many times for filing the wrong documents and photocopying the wrong files and it wasn’t even 3 hours into his shift yet.

Akiteru sighed.

Maybe he should text Kei about this, although he’s not quite sure what to say. Should he tell Kei he has a crush? Would he react? A part of him hoped that he’d appear at least a little bit jealous, like Kei used to get when Akiteru brought home bags of Valentine’s Day chocolates from girls at school. Imagining his pouty face when he’s told there’s someone who’s taking his Nii-chan’s attention away makes him chuckle. But Kei’s older now and at this point, he probably couldn’t care less. The thought made Akiteru kind of sad, old memories of a younger Kei giving him painful pangs in his chest.

Akiteru shook his head.

No, things were different between them now. Sure it’s not exactly how they used to be, and they still have a while to go, but he knows they’ve definitely been getting better and better over the last few months. Kei would talk to him now, hold actual conversations instead of one sentence answers. Sometimes, Kei would even be the one to text first, not to ask for a favour, but to actually just talk. Maybe… maybe Kei was genuinely interested in Akiteru’s life. Kei might not get jealous like he used to, but he should surely be interested if his big brother has a crush, right? Although knowing him, he’d downplay that fact as much as possible.

Akiteru decided to text Kei during his lunch break.

 

 _[To: Kei_ ♡

_Subject: Tattoo?_

_What would you think if I got a tattoo?_ ( ｰ̀εｰ́ ) _]_

 

Akiteru barely took a bite of his of his lunch when his phone buzzed with Kei’s reply.

 

 _[From: Kei_ ♡

_Subject: RE: Tattoo?_

_Why?]_

 

Trust his little brother to barely react. Akiteru stuffed more food into his mouth so he could chew while he texted Kei back.

 

 _[To: Kei_ ♡

_Subject: RE: RE: Tattoo?_

_Just wondering. I think it would suit me. One of your name inside a heart or something._ (*•̀ᴗ•́*)✧ _]_

 

 _[From: Kei_ ♡

_Subject: RE: RE: RE: Tattoo?_

_Ew.]_

 

 _[To: Kei_ ♡

_Subject: RE: RE: RE: RE: Tattoo_

_Haha, I’m joking!_ (( ´∀`;)) _]_

 

 _[From: Kei_ ♡

_Subject: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: Tattoo?_

_You say that, but I wouldn’t put it past you._

_Still, what brought this on?]_

 

 _[To: Kei_ ♡

_Subject: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: Tattoo?_

_Nothing, really._ ヾ(*´ー`)ノ

 _Honestly, don’t worry about. I probably couldn’t ever get one anyway._ （＾＿＾）ｖ _]_

 

 _[From: Kei_ ♡

_Subject:  RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: Tattoo?_

_Well, I figured that much. You’re too old to go through your rebellious phase, but you’re still too young to go through a mid-life crisis._

_Anyway, I have to get back to class._

_See you.]_

 

 _[To: Kei_ ♡

_Subject: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: Tattoo?_

_And you know all about rebellious phases, don’t you?_ (*´艸`*)

 _See you. Have fun at school~_ （●´∀｀）ノ♡ _]_

 

Akiteru sighed as he put down his phone and shook his head at himself. He wasn’t even sure why he brought up tattoos of all things. Some feeble attempt to ease in the fact Akiteru had a crush maybe, but he barely even touched the subject. Would a tattoo impress Saeko? Akiteru would bet that even though he didn’t see any the last time he saw her, she definitely had some. Maybe she liked her men to have at least one. But Akiteru could never. For one thing, his mother would most likely freak out about it, worry that her son was turning into some rebel. Another thing was, the idea of it was scary. He heard they were painful and there’s always risk of infection and God, Akiteru gets uneasy with injections, how would he survive a tattoo needle?

Noticing he only had 5 minutes left of his break, Akiteru quickly shoved the rest of his lunch in his mouth and chewed all the way back to his office, not feeling at ease in the slightest.

Once he was at home, Akiteru found himself rummaging through his closet, looking for some cool outfit he could wear. No cool leather jacket with studs or spikes, but he did find some old pair of jeans that were slightly ripped and faded. He even managed to find a band T-shirt, some punk rock band he really liked and had even made Kei listen to when he was younger, but he wondered if this band was hardcore enough to impress Saeko or would she find it lame. He tossed it away and took out a plain white T-shirt instead. That’s what some of the guys in _Soul Japan_ wore, so it should be okay. You can never go wrong with a plain white T-shirt. The copy of _Soul Japan_ Akiteru had bought at the convenient store on the way home lay open on his bed, to a page with some tough-looking men that Akiteru knew he wouldn’t want to ever cross if he knew what was good for him. Even just a photograph was intimidating enough. But still, Akiteru knew these were probably the type of men Saeko was interested in, so he had to impress her.

He started going through his shoe cupboard looking for the pair of boots he knew he had but haven’t worn in a long time. He found them hidden at the back behind multiple pairs of sneakers and guest slippers. (Akiteru still doesn’t know why he has so many, not many people come to visit him really, and especially all at once…)

Akiteru lay down his outfit on his bedroom floor and nodded approvingly. Not bad. Not bad at all. The only thing that was missing was maybe a couple of tough-looking accessories and the most important thing of all - A cool leather jacket.

These were things he could handle tomorrow after work. But for now… Akiteru looks at himself in the mirror. He had to admit it, he was kind of average. Short blond hair, and brown eyes… he’s been told he has a friendly face, and a nice smile and while he’s not too sure about that, one things for sure: He looks way too boring.

Sure, he’s tall, and broad, and he’s more muscle than fat because of all the volleyball he plays. But even so, Akiteru’s looks weren’t all that unique, nothing about him stood out besides his height. Even his fashion sense was somewhat plain. Not even his own personality stood out. He was the type of person who helps grannies cross the street and leave his umbrella to shelter stray animals in the rain. The type to always lend a helping hand, and to take care of others when they need it. He avoids conflict as much as possible, emotionally and physically, but physically more so. He’s usually the one to break up fights than be involved in them, much less start them.

If Akiteru were to describe himself in one word, it’d be ‘plain’. Or ‘boring’.

Or ‘pathetic’.

In all honesty, he had an uninteresting job and an uninteresting car and lived in a small, uninteresting apartment. A well-groomed member of society that fit in with everyone else. He wasn’t loud, he didn’t defy authority, his personality was as mild as plain rice.

No way would Saeko look twice at a man like him.

So that was why he had to change his style.

Akiteru played with his hair, thinking about how to style it. He pushed it back, grabbed some gel and tried to spike it (a disaster, to be honest. His hair may be short but it was still too long to be spiked.) He lifted it up from the side and wondered how he’d look with a buzzcut. Akiteru turned around and grabbed the magazine off his bed and flipped through it, searching for a hairstyle that wasn’t too drastic, but made him fit in with a group of bikies. An article caught his eye however and as he read through it told him that he didn’t need to tick all the checkboxes, at the fundamentals of it all, it was an attitude.

So, instead of deciding on a hair-style that Akiteru might regret and spend many nights crying over, he began practicing faces in the mirror, intimidating ones, ones that said “Don’t mess with me because I’ll mess you up.” But honestly, Akiteru thought he looked like someone who had something uncomfortable down his pants and was trying hard to keep a straight face. If Kei was here, he’d probably be laughing at him. Maybe take some incriminating photos as blackmail material.

Sighing, Akiteru takes off his shirt and switches off his light, flopping down on the bed and pulling the covers over him. He reaches over to his nightstand to grab his phone. He brought up Saeko’s number and decided to just get on with it. If he overthinks things and puts it off, then she might get swept off her feet by some other guy that is probably a far better match for her. But still, Akiteru deserved to try, right?

 

_[To: Tanaka-san_

_Subject: Cheer Squad for Inter-high_

_Sorry this is kinda late, just got back from drinking with a couple of work-mates._ (*^▽^*)ゞ

 _Just wondering if you were free this Sunday to discuss the Cheer Squad at the Inter-high in June? Like making fans and seeing who we can get to come cheer with us and stuff._ (๑•̀ㅂ•́)✧ _]_

 

Akiteru squeezed his eyes shut and pressed the cool edge of his phone against his forehead. Why couldn’t he just ask her on a date point-blank? No, of course he couldn’t. Because she wouldn’t want to date him. Not yet at least. He needed the chance to impress her first. _Then_ he can ask her out, when he becomes the kind of man she wants.

His phone buzzed with her reply.

 

_[From: Tanaka-san_

_Subject: RE: Cheer Squad for Inter-high_

_Sure thing! Say 10 o’clock? I know a cute cafe we can get coffee in._ (｀ε´  )ゞ _]_

 

Akiteru blinked. She accepted, but it wasn’t like she was saying yes to a date or anything. No, what really took him aback was the fact she wanted to meet in a ‘cute cafe’. Akiteru thought she’d rather go to a pub in the afternoon or something, and if she didn’t suggest it, Akiteru was going to himself, thinking that’s what she wanted. Well, whatever. She accepted and that was the important thing.

 

_[To: Tanaka-san_

_Subject: RE: RE: Cheer Squad for Inter-high_

_Sounds good to me._ o(〃＾▽＾〃)o

 _Goodnight!_ (*・∀・)ノ゛ _]_

 

She texted back goodnight and Akiteru placed the phone back on his nightstand and drew his covers over his head. His heart picked up pace and he felt himself grin like a stupid idiot. He knew this anticipation was gonna be a problem for the rest of the week.

He had a non-date with Tanaka Saeko.

 

* * *

 

Saeko woke up bright and early on Sunday, and while usually she’d curse the sunlight and wished for all those tweeting birds to shut up as she pulled the covers over her head and tried to sleep in more, today was a day worth getting up for.

Because she had a ‘non-date’ with Tsukishima Akiteru.

She had to admit she had always found him handsome, even way back in high school. After she had that run in with him with the melon bread, she learnt his name while she did her usual spying on the volleyball club and noticed him turn whenever someone called for “Tsukishima.” She then realized that this was the “Tsukishima-senpai” girls in her class would often swoon about too, and while Saeko isn’t one for swooning, she’d silently agree with them as she overheard their conversations from then on.

Saeko thought she had almost forgotten about him however, until the time she had to drive Ryuunosuke’s teammates to Tokyo for away games on the weekend and she stuck around long enough to hear that name again, because his little brother was on the team this time. It all came flooding back to her then, and although she wasn’t sure exactly if her Tsukishima and Ryuunosuke’s Tsukishima were related at the time, it all clicked into place for her when she met him again at the Spring High play-off finals.

Back then, it wasn’t like she had a crush on him. Sure, he was kind of cute, and a little bit endearing, but her heart barely skipped at the thought of him, she had no intention of pursuing him. Perhaps that was because back then, there was another that had caught her interest. Someone in her class who was also on the volleyball team, whose intensity still made Saeko shiver to this day. But none of that mattered anymore, because as she got to know Akiteru more and more, her feelings for him grew. He had been on her mind for the last couple of months and she remembered how she almost kicked her wall in delight when he texted her the other night to ask to hang out.

It wasn’t a date, no.

But maybe Saeko would be able to impress him enough today that he’ll ask her out on a proper date next time.

Although she had to admit, this was a strange crush.

She’s not quite sure what it was about him she was so drawn to in the first place.

Maybe they connected through their shared pride as older siblings, or maybe something about his dorky… _everything_ was just so endearing to her somehow. Maybe it was the kind, friendly vibe she got from him, or the way he smiled, so bright and warm.

Maybe it was all of these things, and more.

It was strange, mostly because Akiteru just wasn’t her type at all. He was nothing like the guys she dated before. He was mild-mannered, clean-cut, straight-edge, had a respectable full-time job and lived on his own. The ultimate boyfriend material, to be honest. The kind of guy you’d take home to meet the parents.

Saeko knew she wasn’t the type of girl he’d probably want to bring home to meet his mother, that’s for sure. After all, even if he wasn’t anymore, he was kind of scared of her the first time they met, in high school, and again months ago. To a boy like that, Saeko was probably unappealing as a woman.

So that’s why for the past few weeks, she’s been trying to change her image. First she started off dying her hair back to it’s more natural mousey brown, the colour she hasn’t had since she was in middle school. Ryuunosuke had given her an incredulous look the next morning when he noticed, and she told him she decided to stop bleaching her hair since it wasn’t healthy for it. He shrugged it off, but a week later when he pointed out her hair was longer, Saeko had simply told him she was growing it out. He raised his eyebrow for a little while longer this time, but let it go shortly after.

Now at this point, it was almost touching her shoulders, long enough for her to curl it to look even more ‘feminine’ and ‘girly’.

Because those were the types of girls guys like Akiteru liked, right?

The cute ones. The safe ones.

Saeko had even gone shopping for new clothes - cute dresses and cute cardigans and even cute shoes. Although she still felt a bit weird wearing them outside her room, today was the perfect day to debut her new ‘girly’ look.

Curled, long, natural hair: check.

Cute sundress that went below the knees with cardigan for added modesty: check.

All piercings taken out and visible tattoos hidden: check.

Minimal makeup - no mascara or eyeliner, clear lipgloss, light foundation and no nail polish: check.

Grabbing her new purse and her new, kitten-heeled sandals to put on at the entrance way, Saeko headed out. Her little brother should still be asleep at this time, since it was a Sunday, so he won’t notice her like this and ask a million questions until he concludes there must be some guy involved and he switches to ‘protective brother mode’.

Unfortunately, this was not the kind of interaction she was spared of because for some strange reason, Ryuunosuke was walking through the hallway towards the kitchen, still seemingly half-asleep, yawning and scratching his exposed stomach.

“Morn’, sis,” he mumbled.

“Ryuu, what are you doing up at this time?” Saeko asked, trying to dodge her brother’s line of sight before he wakes up completely and notices her.

“Got movies with Noya-san…” he said, walking past with another yawn without paying much attention to her. Saeko had sighed relief and was about to make her exit when Ryuunosuke suddenly paused. “Hang on a minute…”

He turned to look at his big sister, fully awake now, and looked her up and down.

“You’re not my big sis…?”

“Th-that’s right, I’m her friend! I’ve just come to get something I left here,” Saeko excused in a panic, holding up the only thing she had - the shoes in her hand. “I got it so uh, she’s waiting for me by the front door..”

“Sis, that was a rhetorical.”

Saeko exhaled and closed her eyes. Of course, even though her brother could be a bit of a moron from time to time, there’s no way he wouldn’t be able to recognize his big sister, no matter what she was wearing.

“You going somewhere?” He asked.

“Nowhere, really,” Saeko quickly answered with a shrug. “Just meeting some friends.”

“Why you dressed so… girly?”

“Why? What’s the matter?” Saeko said casually, trying to brush it off and gave her dress a twirl. “Don’t I look pretty?”

“No, I mean, yeah, you do. You look great, but…” Ryuunosuke tilted his head and furrowed his brow at her, like he was studying her carefully. “This isn’t really you…?”

“Of course it is! Some days, I just feel a little girly and like to dress up. Is that a problem?” Saeko tried to reassure her brother as quick as possible before he figures out she actually has a date. Well, it wasn’t _really_ a date, but that’s beside the point. “Now I gotta go or I’ll be late!”

Saeko turned on her heel and headed towards the entrance way.

“Oi, sis, wait up!” She heard her little brother call out from behind her. She looked over her shoulder to find that Ryuunosuke had actually disappeared so she just begun putting on her shoes. They felt strange to wear somehow, and even stranger to walk on. She’s worn heels before, many times. 6 inch stilettos, no problem. The heel wasn’t the problem. It was the fact that she had never really worn shoes that had bows on them before. Somehow, they made her feet look even tinier, and they weren’t the least bit cool or sexy like her favourite pair. They were cute, though, and girly, and that’s what mattered today.

“Here.”

Saeko turned around to see her brother holding out her motorbike helmet.

“Don’t forget to take your helmet with you, sis.”

Saeko looked at it and back at Ryuunosuke, and dismissed it with a wave.

“I’m not taking my bike today,” she stated.

Ryuunosuke raised another eyebrow at her. “But Dad’s using the pick-up truck for work, so how else-”

“Train, silly!” Saeko said.

“But why not the bike?”

“Just don’t wanna, is all.”

Her little brother frowned, looking serious. “Sis, what’s going on?”

“Nothing!” Saeko tried to reassure again, waving her hand more. “Now I gotta go, or I’m going to be late!”

Not really. Truth be told, she was pretty early. If she left now, she’d get there half an hour before she had to meet Akiteru. Even so, she still left as quickly as possible with a quick _‘heading out now’_ and a slam of the front door behind her before her brother could question her further.

Saeko had to admit, the last thing she wanted to do was change herself, especially for a guy. But dumb crushes make people do dumb things. She just wanted him to find her dateable, instead of scary or intimidating. Maybe even marriage-able, although it was way, way too early to be thinking about that. They hadn’t even had their first proper date yet.

Still, she really, really liked him. For some dumb reason, she really liked this guy, and she wanted him to like her back. Maybe… if things work out, Saeko can go back to being herself, and Akiteru would still accept her for it. If he doesn’t, if he still finds her intimidating and scary, some thug or punk and undateable… then maybe it just wasn’t meant to be.

But Saeko wasn’t going to get herself down with negative thoughts like that just yet. Especially when she saw him waiting at the cafe already, even earlier than she had been and her heart had skipped a beat, before pounding rapidly. He was sitting at one of the outdoor tables, head propped up with one hand and staring ahead at nothing. There was a soft smile on his face and Saeko wondered what it was he was thinking about. Maybe volleyball? His little brother? ... Her?

Maybe all three.

Although only two out of three was most likely.

Saeko watched as he started to check his phone and when he glanced up, their eyes met. He smiled politely at her and then looked away. She felt almost offended until she remembered she was probably unrecognizable, at least at this distance. So she walked over, and as he noticed her getting closer, he narrowed his eyes and tilted his head at her, until she had almost reached the table and his eyes widened as he stood up immediately.

“Tanaka-san! I-I’m sorry, I didn’t recognize you… Y-You look…” Akiteru looked her up and down and Saeko could tell he was trying to connect this Saeko to the last Saeko he saw, the one at nationals in Tokyo, in his head. Wondering why the change, and probably thinking it was an improvement. “Uh, I mean…”

Akiteru leaned against the chair with his hand and took out what seemed to be… a fake cigarette? Oh my god. “Yo, you’re lookin’ pretty good.”

He placed the fake cigarette in his mouth but forgot to light it. It took all Saeko had to hold in her laughter. What was he doing? Was he trying to be cool or something? He was wearing studded wrist cuffs as well and a long silver chain hung from his neck. She noticed something by his ear… an earring? A guy like him got a piercing? No… no it was fake. Saeko noticed how the small gold hoop pinched the lobe, rather than go through it. What was he trying to do?

Although she had to admit, the leather jacket was pretty sweet, and looked pretty good on him too.

“Not looking too bad yourself, big boy,” she said back and immediately bit her lip. Her amusement at Akiteru’s ‘cool guy’ act and the slight ego-boost from the compliment he gave her made her a little bit careless and her more bold and brusque personality shined through, and probably put him off a little. He looked back at her wide-eyed, then looked away quickly, his lips pursed and his cheeks pink. Yeah, he seemed really embarrassed by her. She was embarrassed too.

“I-I mean… you’re looking good today too, Tsukishima-san,” Saeko said to save face, in the most polite voice she could muster. He looked back at her again, eyebrow raised.

“‘Tsukishima-san’?” He questioned. Never had Saeko addressed him so formally, despite being younger and now she was just extra embarrassed and avoided his eye. She sat down on the chair and placed her purse on the table.

“The coffee here is really good,” she said, to change the subject.

“Is that so?” Akiteru said, sitting down as well.

“Yes.”

“I see.”

The conversation ended awkwardly then, and the two looked at anything but each other.

“So…” Akiteru began again, drumming his fingers on the table.

“So,” Saeko repeated, fiddling with her purse.

They were saved by the waitress that approached their table and asked if they were ready to order. It was then that Saeko realized amidst her haste, anticipation and nervousness about this ‘non-date’, and her confrontation with her little brother, she forgot to have breakfast this morning. Her stomach did a good job at reminding her of this with a low rumble. She moved her purse in front of her stomach, hoping Akiteru didn’t hear it. Maybe she should have looked at the menu real quick. But all Akiteru ordered was a coffee - long black. If she were to order food, it wouldn’t be a very good look now would it? Being the only one to eat, and especially as a lady in front of a man. Akiteru would probably see her as gluttonous. Something like that just wouldn’t be lady-like, right?

So she just ordered a latte.

The waitress left, and they were back to awkwardness again. Saeko noticed Akiteru still had the fake cigarette between his fingers.

“You gonna light that?” She asked, teasingly.

Akiteru gave her a confused look until he realized what she meant, looking back at the fake cigarette.

“Oh. Uh, I thought I… um,” he stammered, looking majorly sheepish. “Did… did you want one? Sorry, it’s my last one so I’m… uh, kinda saving it… that’s why I didn’t light it.”

 _Nice save,_ Saeko thought with a wry smile.

“No, thank you. I don’t smoke.”

Well, actually, Saeko does smoke, but only on the occasion when she’s out drinking with her friends. Still, a lady doesn’t have such habits and if Akiteru knew, he’d probably be turned off.

“Oh, I thought maybe you were… n-nevermind,” Akiteru muttered and put the fake cigarette back in his pocket. His cheeks seemed even redder now.

Saeko felt hers heat up again as well, the awkwardness of everything almost too hard to handle now.

“Um, so,” Akiteru began, obviously trying to make some sort of conversation. “I was doing some maintenance on my Yamaha yesterday…”

Yamaha? As in the brand of motorbikes? There’s no way this guy had one. Saeko still remembers the look of fear clearly on his face when she merely mentioned she owned one. He’s probably never ridden on one before, let alone do maintenance on one. Was he just casually pretending he did to… impress her?

“Did you come here by motorbike?” Akiteru asked.

“No, I took the train,” Saeko replied.

“Oh. But you like motorbikes, right?” Akiteru kept going.

“Oh, heavens no!” Saeko exclaimed. “Those things are too loud, and dangerous!”

Saeko’s motorbike was actually her pride and joy and she loves nothing more than to ride on that thing everywhere. But it wasn’t exactly lady-like, was it?

“I thought you did. I remember you telling me…” Akiteru mumbled.

Saeko shook her head. “No, no. I probably meant that my brother is interested in motorbikes! Yes, Ryuu loves them very much and he’s always talking to me about them. That’s how I know so much. He can’t wait till he gets his first bike.”

“Ah. I see,” Akiteru said, although he seemed a little confused.

Dammit, why was she putting on an act? Especially since Akiteru knows what she’s like anyway. They met as far back in high school, when she was known as the delinquent girl that stalked the boy’s volleyball club. Heck, apparently she was scary looking enough that Akiteru had thought she had a Yakuza boyfriend. He was probably finding it really difficult right now dissociating the Saeko he knew to the Saeko in front of him. But hopefully, once he _did_ wrap his head around it, instead of finding her scary or intimidating, he thinks of her as lovely and attractive and ask her out properly.

The conversation fell silent again, and neither did much more than look away from each other. Saeko began picking at her nails in her lap out of nervousness and embarrassment and she didn’t dare look up to see what Akiteru was doing until the waitress arrived with their coffees. They said their thanks and took their first sips.

“Oooh! The coffee really is good here!” Akiteru exclaimed and Saeko smiled at the way he lit up. A wide grin was on his face and his eyes were bright and sparkling. It was almost as if he was emitting a visible aura of sunshine. It reminded her of a puppy’s excitement, the way they just delight in the most simplest of things, and he was adorable like one too. Getting so excited over good coffee like that, it was nothing short of endearing.

“Told you,” Saeko said smugly over the rim of her cup and took a sip. Of course, Saeko honestly prefers pubs and a nice, cold beer in a large jug, but whenever she needed a coffee, this was her favourite place to go. She’s glad Akiteru enjoys it too. Maybe they can come here together again more often in the future.

Suddenly, Saeko remembered the reason why Akiteru asked her to hang out in the first place. “Oh yeah! The Inter-high in June!”

“Oh, right!” Akiteru put down his coffee. “You getting your drumming team to come?”

“Of course! Although, maybe only one or two of the guys and save the whole team for the finals,” Saeko said. “Also, I thought about making personalized banners for all the guys on the team.”

“Lemme guess, you call dibs on Ryuunosuke-kun’s banner?” Akiteru joked.

“Duh. Don’t worry, I’ve reserved Kei’s for you,” Saeko giggled. Akiteru grinned.

“Sweet. I’m sure he’ll love that,” he laughed.

Their conversation flowed then, most of the awkwardness gone, the atmosphere getting lighter and lighter as they talked about volleyball and Karasuno and their little brothers. Soon enough, it had almost felt like they were in their own world as they babbled about this and that, barely paying any mind to what surrounded them.

It was a good feeling, and Saeko was glad they were able to pass through that awkwardness, because once they did, it was just so easy to talk to one another. Akiteru was friendly and easy-going and they somehow just _clicked_ to the point they were throwing casual and light banter. It was fun. She hopes the awkwardness never comes back. She hopes to get a _real and proper_ date by the end of this one.

“You finished?” Akiteru asked, gesturing to Saeko’s next to empty glass.

“Yeah,” Saeko replied, taking one last gulp of what was left. She started to stand, grabbing her purse but Akiteru stopped her.

“Allow me,” he said, pulling out his wallet from his jacket. He smiled at her before disappearing into the cafe to pay and Saeko felt her heart skip a beat.

What a gentleman.

Saeko had expected them to pay for their own coffees, since this technically wasn’t an actual date. But this was Akiteru she’s talking about, and he was kind and thoughtful and would probably pay for his whole family at an expensive restaurant, just to make them happy, even if his wallet wasn’t. Though that wouldn’t have mattered to someone like him.

“What are you smiling at?”

Saeko jumped at the voice and noticed Akiteru had returned, grinning back at her.

“Nothing!” Saeko exclaimed. “I wasn’t even smiling.”

“Yeah you were, you had this weird, dreamy look on your face,” Akiteru stated with a teasing smirk.

Saeko scowled and rolled her eyes, but smiled again as she stood up and grabbed her purse.

“So what should we do now?”

“You wanna keep hanging out?” Akiteru looked at her wide-eyed, seemingly surprised at the suggestion for some reason.

“Uh, yeah? Don’t tell me you wanna go home so soon,” Saeko said with a flirtatious wink and Akiteru’s cheeks immediately reacted, going pink.

“Th-that’s… I mean,” he fidgeted, averting his eyes. He suddenly inhaled, puffing out his chest and placing his hands on his hips, attempting to look more cool and confident. Saeko smirked. “As long as you don’t want to go, I’m cool with… hanging out a little while longer.”

“I’m cool with that too,” Saeko smiled.

“Then… how about we walk around for a bit until we figure out what we want to do next?”

“Sounds good to me.”

This ‘non-date’ was sure turning into an actual date. But it was still technically a non-date, wasn’t it? Not that much different from hanging out with her friends. But Saeko didn’t have a crush on her friends. No, she had a crush on the man she was ‘hanging out’ with right now. The man she peered into window shops with to check out what neat stuff they had inside. The man who bought her a blueberry cheesecake crepe, while he had the banana and caramel. The man whose hand she kept glancing down at, wanting to hold it and see how small her own hand looked in his larger ones. If they felt rough like Ryuunosuke’s did because of all that volleyball, or maybe even rougher. If the fingers would wrap around hers and hold them tight. She wondered if he felt the same. If he was looking at her hand too, or her lips as she licked away the cream from the crepe and wanted to kiss them. If he kissed her right then and there, she’d have no complaints. Hell, she’d probably kiss him back, fiercely, because let’s face it, this is Akiteru and if he were to kiss her right now, it’d be the softest of kisses, probably the chastest. Not just because they were in public, but because that was the type of person he was, not wanting to push or cross boundaries he wasn’t sure of. And Saeko, being the type of person she was, would wrap her arms around his neck and pull him closer to deepen the kiss, and everyone could see for all she cared. But Akiteru would care, and he’d pull away, embarrassed, the deepest of crimson painting his cheeks, and he’d avert his eyes shyly, looking all adorable like he usually does, but even more so now, all bashful. Yet there would be the tiniest, softest smile on his face and he’d look back at Saeko with those big, puppy browns, with a look in them as if to say _‘thank you’,_ or _‘let’s continue this at my pl-_

“What are you giggling at?”

“Huh?” Saeko was snapped back to reality once again and silently cursed herself. She’s got to get better control. Saeko waved a dismissive hand. “Oh, just thinking of a funny joke.”

“Is that so?” Akiteru raised an eyebrow at her, probably expecting her to share it with him. Unfortunately, she lied. She wasn’t thinking of a funny joke, and she can’t even come up with a lame one on the spot to appease him.

“Yeah…”

“Hey, babe,” she heard a voice suddenly call out to her. She chose to ignore it. She knows what this is, it’s not the first time it’s happened, and it probably won’t be the last, as gross as most men were.

“Hey, you over there with the big boobs.”

Saeko threw those thugs a look of disgust and turned her head away.

“Let’s keep going,” she muttered to Akiteru, pushing him along from behind.

“Babe, we’re talking to you,” one of them said.

“Why not dump that loser you’re with and hang out with us instead?” The other said, sneering grossly. “We’ll show you a good time.”

Saeko rolled her eyes and tried to get Akiteru moving, but instead he stepped in front of her and between the thugs. “You shouldn’t talk to her like that.”

Saeko shook her head at him and pulled at his arm.

“Don’t,” she hissed. “These guys are bad news. Come on, let’s just go. You’re gonna get hurt.”

Akiteru was a big guy, sure. He towered over those thugs and he could probably match them in strength, if those arms of his were anything to go by. But Akiteru didn’t do fights. She knew this. He’s probably never been in a punch up before, he probably doesn’t know how to handle himself in an actual physical fight.

“Oh yeah? What are you going to do about it, punk?” One of them spat, stepping closer to Akiteru. The other followed.

Saeko watched as Akiteru stood his ground, shoulders rolled back and chest stuck out, looking down on them and trying to be as intimidating as possible. He was trying to stand up for her, and while Saeko knew how to handle herself, and he probably knew it too, she was touched.

Even so, they should just get out of here before it turns ugly. She tried pulling on his arm again and whispering at him to just go, but Akiteru didn’t budge an inch.

“I don’t want it to have to come to this,” Akiteru said seriously. He glanced back down at Saeko, then back at the thugs. “Just walk away and leave her alone.”

Was he seriously threatening them? Unless you were like these guys, threats just don’t work on them, because they know you’re only bluffing. They could probably tell that Akiteru was nothing but a big softie on the inside. He emanated that kind of aura, no matter how big and tough he was making himself out to be right now.

“Or else what?” They stood right in front of Akiteru, leaning up to put their face in his and continued to sneer at him.

“Or… o-or else…”

Akiteru swallowed and then - oh my god, she couldn’t believe it - he raised his fists. As if he was getting ready to fight. This was ridiculous. Even the thugs scoffed at him. Saeko pulled at Akiteru’s jacket harder this time and actually managed to move him back a little and yet, he still stayed his ground. Dammit, she’s gonna have to use all her strength now, but just as she grabbed his arm with both hands, one of the thugs pulled back his fist and in a flash, punched Akiteru square in the face.

“Akiteru!” Saeko cried out as he stumbled and fell backwards, clutching his nose with both hands.

“What a pansy,” the thugs laughed. “Seriously, babe, you wanna be with a man like that?”

Saeko gritted her teeth. She didn’t care if she’d appear unlady-like in front of Akiteru. They hurt him and they were being smug about it. If she doesn’t do something now, they’ll just continue being assholes and both her and Akiteru would have lost some pride.

Moving swiftly, with a swish of her dress, she punched the thug that hurt Akiteru right back. He didn’t even see it coming. Neither of them did. The other watched in shock as he faltered backwards, hand clutching his face.

“Ugh, what the hell, you bitch?!”

“Go on. Fight back. Hit a lady, if you dare. There’s witnesses though, just thought you should know,” Saeko said, her voice dark and threatening. The thugs looked around and saw that there indeed a few other people on the street, staring towards the scene in front of them.

“Let’s get out of here,” the other one said, grabbing the punched guy by the arm and pulling him away.

Saeko glared after them until they were almost out of sight. She let out a breath of relief, and immediately turned towards Akiteru and crouched down in front of him.

“How you holdin’ up, tough guy?” She asked, her tone slightly teasing.

“Um. I think I’m bleeding,” Akiteru replied, voice muffled by his hands.

“What the heck, are you serious!?” Saeko hurriedly fished inside her purse for tissues and handed some to Akiteru. “Here. Make sure to pinch your nose and tilt your head back.”

Akiteru did just that. Saeko noticed his hands had blood on them, so she took out the tiny water bottle she carried with her and wet some tissues.

“Here, give me your hand, I’m gonna wipe the blood.” Akiteru did so without saying anything. When Saeko cleaned that hand, she asked for the other one that was pinching his nose. Akiteru swapped hands and let her clean the other one too. “Okay hold on a sec, let me see if your nose is broken…”

Suddenly she cupped Akiteru’s face and she felt him flinch, startled. Once Saeko realized what she just did, her heartbeat started to pick up pace but she tried to ignore it, and just prayed Akiteru couldn’t hear or feel it. She leaned over him too, as he still had his head tilted back and she noticed him glance down, then quickly looked away and shut his eyes tight, pursing his lips as his cheeks went red. (Oh. He was so pure…)

Saeko asked him to move the tissues and his hand out of the way so she could check. She tilted his head this way and that, but saw no abnormalities in the form of his (rather well-shaped, she had to admit) nose. Thank God. She did however, notice something else.

“Hey, your eye is starting to swell up,” Saeko stated, delicately ghosting her fingers over Akiteru’s eyelid. He winced and flinched again.

“It hurts,” he said, inhaling sharply.

“Well, duh it hurts, tough guy. You were punched in the face.”

Akiteru bit his lip and looked away, nudging Saeko’s hands off and putting the tissues back on his nose.

Ah. She got it. His manly pride had been wounded. He was trying to impress her by acting all tough, standing up to the thugs like that, only to be punched to the ground. She sighed. Well, if there’s one thing she knew did good for a wounded male ego, it was flattery. Worked on Ryuunosuke every single time.

“Hey, thanks for standing up for me. You were pretty cool. I mean, you took a punch for me, you know,” she said, chuckling. “That’s pretty awesome.”

Akiteru looked back at her. “Really?”

Saeko smiled. “Really.”

Akiteru smiled a small smile back but then averted his eyes again. “You were much cooler than me, though. You actually got them to leave. You’re always so cool…”

 _Too cool for me,_ Saeko swore she almost heard. Is this what this was all about? Because it was hardly true in the slightest.

“Nah, not at all!” Her smile grew wider then, and Akiteru had looked at her, dumbfounded, seemingly unsure of what to say or how to respond. “Come on, let’s get some frozen peas or something to put on that eye of yours, yeah?”

She helped pull him up and they made their way to the nearest convenient store. Akiteru waited outside as Saeko went in, bought a bag of frozen peas and handed it to Akiteru once she came back.

“Thanks,” he said, placing it on his eye.

“No problem. Your nose stop bleeding?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s good.”

“I’m… really sorry,” Akiteru said all of a sudden and Saeko looked up at him in surprise, blinking.

“What for?”

“For not ignoring those guys when you said to. If I did that, none of this would have happened.”

“No, not at all. You wanted to defend my honor. I get that. Ryuu can be the same, sometimes,” Saeko said with an amused chuckle. “Still, never pegged ya as one to pick a fight.”

“I’m not,” Akiteru said bluntly.

“Figured.”

Akiteru sighed. “Maybe we should just call it a day.”

Saeko pursed her lips, but honestly she couldn’t disagree. “Yeah.”

“At least let me drive you home,” Akiteru said, looking a little forlorn. “It’s the least I can do. We’ll have to walk back to the cafe, though since it’s where I parked.”

Saeko smiled, feeling just as forlorn as Akiteru seemed. “Sure.”

 

* * *

 

Ryuunosuke was returning home from his outing with Nishinoya. They had gone to the movies first, and Nishinoya had picked up that something was bothering Ryuunosuke while they were in line for tickets. Ryuunosuke had sighed and told him he’d talk about it later. Nishinoya had protested, accusing Ryuunosuke that he’d still just keep it to himself later and Ryuunosuke had to convince him that he really would tell him later, when they had more time to talk about it instead of 15 minutes before the movies starts. Nishinoya had agreed to this, but told Ryuunosuke he'd hold him to his word.

After the movie, they had gotten some lunch at the nearest McDonald’s and that’s when Ryuunosuke had told Nishinoya all about his sister and her weird behaviour. He had grown concerned, but wondered if there may be nothing to it. That maybe his sister really was just finding a new identity. But Nishinoya told him that there’s no way. His sister has always been that punk type since she was a kid, at least from what Ryuunosuke had told her, and the baby photos he’s seen. Ryuunosuke agreed but he still had no idea why the change in the first place. Well, he did have his suspicions, yet a part of him wanted to believe it wasn’t true. But Nishinoya validated them, because why else would she feel the need to change herself? Ryuunosuke apprehensively sipped his coke. Nishinoya was right.

The only reason why his sister would want to change who she is was if she liked a guy a lot, but the guy didn’t like her for who she was.

That bastard didn’t deserve her.

He was gonna need to have a serious talk with his sister. He didn’t care how much she might like this guy, he’s not worth it if he makes her change herself.

He stepped through the front door, with the usual “I’m home!”, wondering if his sister was home already.

“Ooohh! Welcome back, Ryuu!” His older sister bounded towards him from around the corner, popsicle in hand and roughed up his head. She seemed to have had a bath and changed into her pajamas now even though it was only evening, but it was somehow relieving to not see her in such girly clothing. “How was the movies?”

“It was good,” Ryuunosuke answered as he slipped on his slippers. He didn’t know how to bring up the date his sister went on today, and the way she dressed, because in the morning she had told him she was going out with friends, although that was a blatant lie. Still, if he brought it up, she’d probably deny it and either change the subject or escape into her room.

But suddenly, as he was walking through the hallway, he felt his sister’s arms wrap around his waist as she hugged him from behind.

“Oh Ryuu,” she said with a dreamy sigh. “I think I really, really, _really_ like this guy.”

Ryuunosuke pressed his lips together.

“I thought you were going out with your friends today?”

“Huh?” He felt his sister tense up. “Oh. Um. Uh…”

“Sis…” Ryuu unwrapped her arms, careful not to get her ice-cream on his shirt and turned around to face her. “Did you go on a date or not today?”

“... It technically wasn’t really a date,” she said, looking to the side. “But yes, I did go see a guy today. And before you ask how long I’ve been seeing him, we’ve known each other for a while, but today was the first time we actually hung out together.”

Ryuunosuke bit the inside of his cheek. Well, it’s not like his suspicion of the guys his sister dates is anything new, and at this point she probably already knew what questions he was going to ask, or where his thoughts would be going.

“But you really, really, _really_ like him?” He repeated her words.

“Well, he did take a punch for me today,” his sister said with a grin. “How could I not fall in love with that?”

Ryuunosuke raised an eyebrow at her but she waved her hand and told her not to worry about it, just some losers trying to hit on her. Of course that made Ryuunosuke even more tense, but being hit on was something his sister was already used to and knew how to handle by now. Plus she was standing here, in front of him, completely okay and grinning ear to ear, so obviously nothing bad happened.

No, he didn’t need to worry about that.

There was something else that he was worried about, though.

“Sis, is this guy… seriously worth it?” He asked. She gave him a puzzled look so he continued to explain himself. “I mean, the way you dressed today, all cute and girly and stuff. You never dress like that. So of course I’m gonna think the only reason was because you wanted to impress the guy you saw today.”

“Oh, well, you see…” his sister begun but Ryuunosuke cut her off.

“If he’s telling you things like you should wear dresses more and be more feminine and girly then… then he’s a bastard who-”

“He never said anything like that to me!” She protested.

“Then… why?”

“Because… because…” she ran her fingers through her hair and sighed. “Because I’m the idiot, okay? I thought that maybe a guy like him preferred girls like that, and I wanted him to like me back so I…”

“Changed your image?”

“Yeah,” his sister exhaled. “Although I wasn’t able to change my personality. I ended up punching one of those losers right in front of him."

“Whoa, seriously?”

“Yeah.”

“Way to go, sis!” Ryuunosuke congratulated and gave her a friendly nudge on the shoulder. She laughed boastfully.

“But of course!” Then she fell silent and looked away again. “I probably didn’t make such a good impression in front him, though.”

“Hey,” Ryuunosuke grabbed his sister by the shoulders and looked her in the eye. “Listen to me. You’re my awesome, cool, confident, tough-as-nails big sister and ain’t nobody gonna change that. If that bastard ain’t like you for you, then he ain’t worth it. I don’t want an asshole like that as my sister’s boyfriend, ya hear me?”

His sister gave him a sincere and moved smile, the corners of her eyes wrinkling.

“Aww Ryuu,” she cooed. She handed Ryuunosuke her ice-cream so she could cup his face and tilt his head down, standing on tiptoes to give him a kiss on top of his shaved head. She only really did this type of affection when she was feeling emotional. Otherwise, she’d usually just put him in a headlock and noogie him. “Love ya. Y’know that, right?”

“Yeah, alright, alright,” Ryuunosuke lightly batted her away, embarrassment tinting his cheeks.

His sister laughed again and took the ice-cream back from him, biting into it.

“But you know, it was the strangest thing too,” she said, mouth full.

“What was?”

“He seemed like he was trying to look and act all different from his usual self to impress me as well.”

Ryuunosuke raised an eyebrow. “Really?”

His sister hummed and walked past him, heading towards the kitchen. “Like, trying to look like some bad boy, acting all cool and tough.”

He gave her a puzzled look, but didn’t question it any further, especially when she just shrugged back at him.

“Maybe he felt the same way I did…” she mused. Ryuunosuke looked to the side, brow furrowed as he contemplated what his sister meant by that. If the guy had acted unlike his usual self, just like his sister did, to impress each other then… maybe this guy was alright. After all, if he tried so hard to impress her, maybe he was aware of just how amazing his big sister was. His thoughts were interrupted however when she looked at him from over her shoulder. “Oi, you hungry? I’m just about to make dinner.”

“Hell yeah, I’m starving!”

He followed her into the kitchen and helped her grab the ingredients she needed to get dinner prepared. Once she was ready and chopping up the vegetables, Ryuunosuke grabbed a yoghurt box from the fridge and sat on the table, sipping at it.

“Oi, don’t have too many of those before dinner. Ya gonna ruin your appetite,” his sister scolded him.

“It’s just so I don’t die of starvation before dinner is even ready!” He protested back at her. There was a beat or two of silence, and Ryuunosuke sipped his yoghurt before he called out to his sister again. “Hey, Sis… can I ask, who’s the guy you thought you had’ta look all cute and girly for?”

“Oh, well…” she placed the vegetables in a pot of boiling water and turned to grin at him. “You sorta know him. He’s the big bro of one of your teammates.”

Ryuunosuke had a sinking feeling. It couldn’t be… who else on his team had an older brother?

“His name is Tsukishima Akiteru.”

He squeezed the box in shock, and it spurt everywhere, making him drop it on the ground.

“WHAT!?”

* * *

 

Kei brought the pen he was using to take notes with to the corner of his mouth, pressing slightly as he read through the textbook, brow furrowed in concentration while music played from the headphones on his ears. He never understood why people thought playing music while studying was distracting. If anything, it helped him concentrate even more, because the music blocked out the outside world around him, leaving him with less distractions. Or maybe he just picked up on this studying method from his brother, who used to do the same thing and it worked for Kei because he never bothered trying anything else.

His brother had influenced a lot of Kei’s idiosyncrasies and interests, although he’d never admit that.

Kei then noticed a presence by his door and when he looked up from his desk, he saw his older brother standing there, holding the door open slightly and smiling at him.

“Nii-chan,” Kei greeted, taking his headphones off. The music must have been loud enough that he didn’t even notice his brother coming home. “What are you doing here?”

“Was in the neighbourhood,” his brother said. “If Mom found out and I never went and visited her, she’d kill me.”

Well, Kei couldn’t disagree with that. But then he noticed something really strange about his brother, and his eyes went wide with shock.

“What happened to you?” He asked. His brother sighed and put a bag of frozen peas on his swollen eye.

“I had a… kind of date, today,” he said and pushed his way through the door and into Kei’s room.

“And she punched you?” Kei asked monotonously although on the inside, he was partly worried yet partly amused.

“No, no, she didn’t punch me,” he flopped backwards onto Kei’s bed with an exasperated sigh. Kei would otherwise tell his brother to not do that, that he had his own bed in the next room over, but he could tell there was something bothering him and that he needed to talk, and while Kei wasn’t exactly good at that sort of thing, this was still his brother. So he let it slide this time. “Some thugs did.”

“Thugs?”

“Yeah.”

Kei didn’t say anything, just stared at his brother incredulously until he explained.

“They started hitting on her, so I tried standing up to them for her… not that I think she couldn’t handle it herself, but I just wanted to… y’know…”

“Impress her?” Kei answered for him.

“Yeah.”

Kei raised an eyebrow. He knew his brother was the protective type, but he also knew his brother would never pick a fight. Shoot threatening looks maybe, but never actually fight someone.

“And then they punched me.”

Kei couldn’t help it. He started to snicker. He honestly felt bad, and there was a large part of him that hated those guys for hurting his brother like that, but the situation itself was just so amusing. His brother, in a punch-up! His kind and caring and soft and sweet brother, in an actual fight. The idea of it was humourous and he only wished he had been there to see it for himself.

“Oi, don’t laugh!” His big brother cried out loud, sitting up on the bed to glare at him. “Your Nii-chan almost got seriously hurt! I mean, my nose started bleeding and look at my eye!”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” Kei wheezed. “It’s just… so funny…”

“Nice to know my little brother cares _soooo_ much,” his brother said sarcastically and flopped back on the bed, pea bag back on his eye.

“Come on, Nii-chan…” Kei started to seriously feel bad now. “If it helps, I do hate the fact that those guys hurt you. It’s just the idea of you in a fight is funny.”

The other grunted at him, but didn’t say anything more. Maybe he actually agreed with Kei. It was then that Kei decided to bring up another thing he noticed but hadn’t the chance to say anything about it yet.

“By the way, what’s with your outfit?” He questioned. “Ripped jeans, leather jacket, chains… is that a piercing?”

“It’s fake,” his brother assured.

“... You didn’t actually get a tattoo did you?” Kei asked apprehensively, remembering one of their recent text conversations.

“No.”

“... Nii-chan,” Kei’s tone changed completely now, into something more serious. It had seemed so sudden to him, his brother wanting a tattoo for no apparent reason. Or at least, a reason his brother was refusing to tell him about. Which was frustrating, because it felt like he was being left out of his brother’s life and while most of that was probably his own fault, sometimes his brother kept things to himself from Kei on purpose, and Kei swore he wanted to be done with the distance between them. “What’s going on?”

His brother sighed. “I just… really wanted to impress this girl. I thought the kind of guys she likes would be those… tough types, you know? Bad boys. Punks. Guys like that.”

Kei just blinked at his brother, not really sure on how to respond, but then the other continued.

“I really do like her. But, she was kinda strange today.”

“How so?”

“It was like… she dressed all girly and cute, which isn’t like her at all. She even dyed and grew out her hair. I almost didn’t recognize her at first.”

“Huh…”

“Yeah. It was weird. She even tried to act all girly and cute, too. I mean, I’m not opposed but… it just wasn’t really her. Or rather, not what I liked her for in the first place. I don’t know...”

Kei hummed. From the sounds of things, it seemed both his brother and his date had changed themselves to impress the other. Idiots, to be honest.

“Well, up until we ran into those thugs and she punched them for me.”

“Whoa, what?” Kei raised his eyebrows in surprise.

“Yeah. She was so cool, she’s always so cool… and I was pathetic, sitting on the ground with a bleeding nose,” his brother sighed. “I don’t blame her if she doesn’t like me back, to be honest… what kind of man...”

“I’m pretty sure she’s grateful you tried to stand up for her.”

“She was probably just feeling sorry for me…”

Kei sighed. “Well, _I_ think it was cool you tried to stand up for her. Besides, thugs like those aren’t real men.”

His brother turned to him and smiled. “Thanks. But you know… I… really like her. Like, really, _really_ like her. But someone like her… no way would she look at a guy like me twice.”

Kei pressed his lips together in a thin line and looked away, staring at some spot on the floor. He doesn’t really know how to deal with the possibility of his brother being in love with someone. The most involved he’s been with his brother’s dating life is when his mom would come into his room after being on the phone to the other to tell him that his big brother had a girlfriend now, and then, some time later - like weeks or months later - come back into his room to tell Kei that his big brother and his girlfriend broke up, with the most despairing expression Kei had ever seen her wear. That was it. But the biggest reason was because back then, Kei didn’t really involve himself much with his brother at all. A bad time Kei wants to forget and is trying to make up for, although he doesn’t really know if he’s doing a good job of it. The other, more smaller reason Kei had never met any of his brother’s previous girlfriends was because they’d always break up before he had a chance to bring them home anyway, and back in middle school and high school, his brother mostly focused on volleyball and didn’t bother dating.

Kei had to admit, but only to himself and inside his head, that the child within him, the one that was still slightly attached and looked up to his big brother, didn’t really want to hand him over to anyone, because the last thing he wanted was his brother getting hurt. Even seeing him the way he is now, lying on Kei’s bed with a bag of peas on his eye and lamenting, caused Kei heartache and he knew the easiest option to deal with it would be to just walk away and _not_ deal with it.

But Kei wasn’t a 10-year-old kid anymore. Right now, it was his duty as his little brother to cheer up his big brother. Comfort and encouraging words weren’t exactly Kei’s forte, but he likes to think he’s gotten better at it, somehow. During the past few months since their reconciliation, he hoped that maybe he did get better, that the distance was closing and they could be like brothers again.

“That’s not true at all,” Kei said, getting up from his desk chair and walking over to his bed, sitting down by his brother’s hip and looking down at him. “If someone doesn’t want to look at you twice, heck, a hundred times, then she’s the one not worth it. Not you.”

His brother opened his eyes and drew the pea bag away, looking up at Kei with big brown eyes full of surprise and puzzlement. Kei exhaled and continued.

“If you… think you have to change yourself to impress someone, then that’s stupid.”

His brother raised an eyebrow at him and Kei closed his eyes, inhaling sharply. That might have been a little rough. He tried to find the right words, and they were there in his head, but whether he could make them come out of his mouth the way he pictured them was another story.

“What I’m saying is… you’re you, and that’s fine and anyone who doesn’t think so isn’t worth you liking them. You’re… great. The way you are. So don’t go dressing weird and picking fights, okay?”

“Kei…” his brother sat up and stared at him brown orbs shining with emotion. “That’s probably the sweetest thing you’ve ever said to me…”

“Yeah, well…” Kei looked away, cheeks going pink. Then suddenly, his brother let out a long wail of his name and wrapped his arms around him. “Hey, Nii-chan!”

Kei cried out as his brother pulled him backwards onto the bed, laughing as Kei struggled to get away.

“Nuh-uh, Kei,” his brother warned. “You think I’m gonna let you go so easily after acting all cute like that?”

“You won’t be thinking I’m so cute once I make that black eye of yours worse for not letting me go.”

His brother hummed and when Kei felt him move his hands till they were at his stomach, he froze.

“Don’t you dare,” he threatened.

His brother didn’t say anything and didn’t even hesitate for a second before he begun digging his fingers in, wriggling them to tickle. Kei jolted and thrashed, breathlessly protesting at his older brother to stop while he just cruely laughed at his little brother being at his mercy. Kei grabbed his brother’s wrists to pull them away but the other managed to wriggle free and make an attempt at tickling Kei again. Kei was able to block his brother’s hands a few times, but he was just too quick and one managed to get at his ribs, making Kei jump. He kicked at his brother’s legs and when Kei was able to grab his brother’s wrists again, he held on tighter this time, making him struggle against his little brother and soon enough, it had turned into a wrestling match that Kei lost easily with his brother putting him in a headlock against his chest and one long leg wrapped around both of Kei’s.

“Okay, okay, enough already!” Kei begged mercy, his voice muffled by the fabric of his brother’s shirt. The other just laughed in response, but loosened his grip so Kei could lift his head and adjust his glasses. “Jerk.”

“Love you too,” his brother just grinned back at him, both of them breathing heavily. Kei decided to punch his brother’s arm for good measure.

“Ow,” he said with a chuckle, letting go of Kei and gripping his arm.

“It’s what you get.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

“So…” Kei leaned his head against one hand, looking down at his brother who had his eyes closed. “You really like this girl, huh?”

His brother opened his eyes and looked at him.

“Yeah. You’re not getting jealous, are you?” He joked and ruffled Kei’s hair.

“No. Stop it,” he swatted his brother’s hand away, and he laughed again. “I just wanna know… who’s this girl you like so much that you think you have to act and dress a different way to impress?”

His brother hummed. “You know her, I guess. She’s the older sister of one of your team-mates.”

Kei froze. No… it couldn’t be. As far as he knew, only one of his team-mates had a big sister.

“Her name is Tanaka Saeko.”

Kei shot right up from the bed, staring at his brother with nothing but pure horror.

“What?”

 

* * *

 

The moment Kei’s and Ryuunosuke’s eyes met at morning practice the following Monday, there was nothing but animosity between the two that caused a great deal of nervousness from their team-mates. It wasn’t unusual for them to argue a little, usually Kei would have a blast making fun of Ryuunosuke, and Ryuunosuke would react in his usual threatening way, but this here was something completely different.

Yuu glared at Kei as well from Ryuunosuke’s side while Tadashi constantly glanced between the three of them, fretting. Poor, sweet, little Hitoka tried to calm the situation and remind them that they’re team-mates and should get along. Their captain Chikara had more of an influence of actually getting the boys to back off each other and focus on their training.

Morning practice proceeded as normal, asides from Kei and Ryuunosuke throwing wary glares at each other. The rest of Karasuno looked at each other in confusion, shrugging when no one could explain what was going on, not even Tadashi, who was closest with Kei because he had no idea and Yuu, who seemed to have some idea, refused to explain.

It wasn’t until after they had gotten changed and ready for morning classes did Ryuunosuke confront Kei outside the gym.

“Oi, Tsukishima!” He called out.

Kei turned to him and sneered.

“What do _you_ want, Tanaka-san?”

Ryuunosuke made angry strides towards Kei until he was in his face.

“Tell your asshole brother to back off my sister, alright?” He threatened, pulling his typical intimidation face. Kei’s eyebrow twitched. No one calls his brother an asshole.

“Tell your hussie sister to get her hands off my brother.”

“Tsukki!” Tadashi cried out in shock, his tone scolding.

Ryuunosuke growled and grabbed Kei by the collar of this uniform as Yuu shouted “Get ‘im, Ryuu!”

Ain’t no one, and he means no one, talk shit about his sister.

“If he’s your brother, then he’s probably just as much of an asshole as you,” he said through gritted teeth. “And my sister needs less assholes in her life.”

“Well, my brother doesn’t need an impulsive and reckless woman who’s gonna drop him when she gets bored,” Kei retorted.

“My sister ain’t like that!” Ryuunosuke yelled.

“And my brother isn’t an asshole!” Kei yelled back.

It suddenly fell silent between them, their heavy breathing the only sounds that filled the strange and hostile air. Tadashi gulped, not sure what to do, and Yuu stared intensely, waiting for something to happen.

Ryuunosuke let go of Kei’s shirt and took a step back.

“They like each other,” he said, voice calmer.

“I know,” Kei said. Ryuunosuke tutted. “Hey, it’s not like I’m enjoying the idea of it either.”

“Why of all people did it have to be _your brother.”_

“I could say the same.”

“Your brother ain’t like anyone she’s ever dated before.”

“Once again, I could say the same.” Although Kei doesn’t exactly know the type of girls his brother has dated in the past. Still, he doubted they were anyone like Saeko.

“If they like each other, guess there ain’t nothing we can do about it,” Ryuunosuke said. “Regardless if we like the idea or not.”

Kei scowled, but his senior was right. No matter how much they both wish the situation was different, the fact remains that their older siblings liked each other, and if there’s one thing they hated more than the idea of them dating, it’s their older siblings’ happiness being denied from them.

“I’ll be keeping a close eye on your brother,” Ryuunosuke warned, pointing a wary finger at Kei.

“Yeah, same with your sister,” Kei warned back, narrowing his eyes.

They glared at each other for a moment longer, until a full understanding was reached and they both turned back to Yuu and Tadashi and made their way to class. All that was left now was the future.

 

* * *

 

Akiteru made his way through the crowd at Sendai City Gymnasium, looking around for where the Karasuno Cheer Squad was setting up. He noticed Shimada, and some of the Neighbourhood Association gathered by the stands. He made his way over, waving at the guys who waved back at him and beckoned him. As he got closer, he noticed a small woman by the railing, setting up the banner. Smiling, he walked on over and slid up next to her.

They hadn’t really contacted each other since their ‘non-date’ a few weeks ago, both kind of embarrassed with how it turned out. But now’s a good a time as any to start afresh.

“Hey,” he said. “You’re looking good.”

Saeko grinned at him. She was back to looking like her usual self. The bleached blond hair cut short into a spiked bob, the multiple piercings up and down her ears, and the mascara, lipstick and black nail polish were all back. And as far as Akiteru is concerned, all this, including her ripped skinny jeans, knee-high boots, low-cut tank-top and studded leather jacket, suited her far, far better.

“Hey,” she said back. “Not looking too bad yourself, big boy.”

Akiteru chuckled and shyly looked away. Yes, he was indeed back to his usual self. A T-shirt with some kind of reference on them, a hooded jacket, and his favourite pair of comfortable jeans with sneakers. Also, not a single piece of jewellery or fake piercing in sight. Plain, but honestly, he preferred this much better, and with the way Saeko was grinning and looking at him up and down, she probably felt the same way.

“You ready for Karasuno to kick some ass?” She asked with a wink and a nudge of her elbow to Akiteru’s arm.

“Always,” he said with a determined smile.

“Then where’s your fan?” Saeko chuckled as she lifted up a white fan from the seat behind her. It said ‘Ryuu’ in colourful letters, with a pink heart underneath. Akiteru scoffed.

“You honestly believe I didn’t come prepared?”

He lowered his backpack and took out a fan too. It was black and said ‘Kei’ in gold and underneath, ‘do your best’.

Saeko grinned again. “Nice one.”

“Too bad we didn’t get to do the personalized banners thing.”

“For nationals, then,” Saeko said.

Akiteru smiled wide. “Yeah. For nationals.”

They kept smiling at each other until cheering had brought them back to reality and they diverted their attention to the courts, where all the teams who were about to play were making their way out.

It wasn’t hard to spot Karasuno, and when they did, Akiteru and Saeko cheered the loudest out of all, waving their fans and calling out their little brother’s names. Ryuunosuke and Kei looked up at them with disgust, and when they noticed them standing close, they looked at each other, almost ready to fight but sighed and turned away from each other instead. They both agreed that while they did not like the idea one bit, they weren’t gonna cause trouble for their siblings.

Akiteru and Saeko continued to cheer together with the rest of the Cheer Squad as the game continued and when Karasuno won, they wrapped their arms around each other for a victory hug. Akiteru had pulled away immediately out of embarrassment, averting his eyes to the floor and scratching his cheek sheepishly, while Saeko chuckled to herself, amused at his flushed face.

They tried to ignore the knowing looks from Shimada and Takinoue.

They promised each other to do this again tomorrow, for the quarter and semi-finals with big grins on their faces, and then after that, again for the finals.

Akiteru had lifted Saeko up and spun her around in pure, ecstatic joy when Karasuno won their place for the nationals tournament, and Saeko laughed and cheered, one arm around Akiteru’s shoulders to keep her balanced and the other raised, fist-pumping the air. Suddenly, Saeko’s hands came to cup Akiteru’s cheeks and in the heat of the moment, crashed her lips onto his. Akiteru let out a surprised squeak and he stumbled back a little, but managed to keep his balance, still holding her up as his eyes were wide open in disbelief. This wasn’t exactly how he planned their first kiss to go. He wanted it to be romantic, he’d take her for dinner first and they’d have a couple of wines. Then he’d walk her home, it’ll be night time, so he’d walk with her under the lampposts on the streets and in the park, and when the atmosphere was just right, he’d turn to her, and she’d look so beautiful under the light and he’d lean down and kiss her softly, gently.

But, honestly? This wasn’t half-bad either.

Saeko pulled away and looked down at him with a wide grin, her eyes sparkling with the mischief that was just so _Saeko_ , and Akiteru, still in a perpetual state of bewilderment, stared up at her with his mouth open, completely breathless like she just sucked all the air out his lungs while his heart threatened to pound out his chest and jump off the railings to splat onto the courts.

“You look like a deer in headlights,” she snickered. “Adorable.”

Akiteru snapped out of it and put her down, stepping back a little to look at his shoes and chuckle bashfully as his face heats up till he swears it’s as bright as a tomato.

“W-We should, um… we should…” he began to stutter. “G-go downstairs and congratulate… the team…”

“Then lead the way, big boy!” Saeko said, turning Akiteru around and pushing him towards the stairs.

Once they reached the bottom, Saeko practically threw herself on her brother and Yuu when she spotted them, laughing her congratulations and ruffling their heads. Ryuunosuke was protesting and trying to swat her away, while Yuu was lapping it all up and laughing with her. Akiteru noticed his own little brother and gave him a tight hug, then squeezed his shoulder as he pulled away, smiling proudly as he said his congratulations. Kei averted his eyes and nodded, cheeks going slightly pink.

After many congratulations and celebration from everyone, the reward ceremony begun, and after that, they had all gathered by the entrance of the gym again, ready to head to their post-win feast, and the adults, their post-win drinks. After Karasuno had boarded the bus and left, Akiteru stopped waving good-bye to his little brother and turned to Saeko standing next to him.

“Hey,” he began. “So uh… I, um, wanted to know if you’d like to go out with me next Sunday? Like, an actual date this time. That is, if I didn’t make too much a fool of myself last time...”

Saeko grinned smugly, hands on her hips. “Sure, big boy. But I’ll be picking you up.”

“Eh?”

“I’ll be bringing a spare helmet too. Or do you have your own, Mr. Yamaha?” She smirked at him knowingly.

“I… oh, ah…” Akiteru chuckled softly, rubbing the back of his neck. “No I don’t…”

“Thought so. Also, be sure to wear that jacket you wore last time, it gets cold on the bike. Plus, ya looked pretty good in it too.”

Akiteru opened his mouth and closed it again, and again, not really sure how to respond as Saeko turned on her heel and looked back at him over her shoulder.

“So next Sunday,” she reaffirmed. “In the meantime, let’s drink! I’ll even shout ya a beer, just coz I think yer cute.”

She gave him a wink before turning back around, leaving Akiteru stunned yet again.

“I’ll see ya at the pub with the others!” She exclaimed as she walked away, throwing her hands up in the air in joy, already impatient for the first glass of a good, cold beer.

Akiteru watched her go, right up until she reached her motorbike in the parking lot. It took a while for it to dawn on him what had just happened.

Picking him up…

Spare helmet…

His leather jacket…

Oh.

Oh no.

OOOHH NOOOO!

 

 _[To: Kei_ ♡

_Subject: HELP!!!_

_KEI HELP I THINK I MIGHT DIE NEXT SUNDAY!!!!_ (((( ;°Д°)))) _]_

**Author's Note:**

> * Dunno how many people know this, but in the 6th light novel, there's a bit that shows Akiteru about to leave his house to go to the Shiratorizawa game. He catches his reflection in the mirror before he leaves though, and is startled there's a stranger in his house, and thinks it's a burgler before realizing it's just him wearing his disguise. (Save this boy.)
> 
> * 'Soul Japan' is a mens' fashion magazine that features OraOra-Kei, which is a type of gyaru fashion of the 'yankii' culture. (Saeko could be considered Ane-Gyaru or OraOra-Gyaru, both part of the 'yankii' culture.) The womens' equivalent of 'Soul Japan' is 'Soul Sister'. 
> 
> *Akiteru just strikes me as the type to constantly use emojis in his texts. He's cute like that.
> 
> Thank you so much for reading! This took longer for me to write than it should have, but my life got a little bit hectic the last few weeks. I hope this was enjoyable for all who read it, and especially my recipient!
> 
> Thanks to Chrissy (XaverianQueenChrissy or Aki-Sae on tumblr) for encouraging me through this, and giving me the original idea for this fic and being my beta reader and basically, just being great.


End file.
